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by Bernard Perera

The strong soccer club from Calcutta Mohun Bagan defeated Saunders SC by two goals to nil in a first-leg match of the Asian Championships Trophy on Wednesday under lights at the Sugathadasa Stadium. As expected both sides dished out good soccer fare for the large crowd present.

For over 17 minutes both sides had equal share of possession of the ball. Indian national skipper Baicheng Bhuttia the main striker scored the first goal off a melee to put the visitors ahead. They held on to this lead until 'lemons'. The local team made every effort to get the equaliser in the first half but failed to do so as the Nigerian defender was a tower of strength, for the visitors.

Ten minutes into the second-half saw the Nigerian striker G. I. Eketi score the second goal for visitors with a fine 20-metre scorcher. The local team missed as many as five scoring opportunities in this session.

At the post-match interview the manager of the visiting team praised the Saunders team for playing a good game of soccer.

He admitted that the locals got many scoring opportunities. If they made good use of these the result would have been different. When asked whether he was satisfied with his strikers performance he said, "Yes, he put us ahead in the first-half which paved the way for our victory. He also added that Saunders is one of the best teams in South East Asian region at club level.

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